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88th Siege Army
of the Death Korps of Krieg Imperial Guard regiments of the 88th Siege Army on Vraks Prime]] The 88th Siege Army of the Astra Militarum was composed of regiments of the Death Korps of Krieg raised from the planet Krieg to prosecute the campaign known as the Siege of Vraks. Vraks Prime was an Imperial Armoury World of the Departmento Munitorum in the Scarus Sector of the Segmentum Obscurus that had rebelled against the Imperium following the attempted Imperial assassination of the heretical Apostate Cardinal-Astra Xaphan. It originally consisted of 4 Line Corps, each of which consisted of 4 Siege Regiments, 2 Assault Corps comprised of armour, siege and artillery regiments, and 2 Artillery Corps of 3 siege artillery regiments, comprised of 10 independent artillery companies and 4 heavy mortar companies. Overall command of the army was given by the Segmentum Obscurus Command to Lord General Zuehlke, the son of a well-connected Imperial noble family. The forces of the Imperium required to assault these formidable defences would be the Imperial Guard regiments raised from the world of Krieg, the infamous Death Korps. These were the best Astra Militarum regiments available to the Imperium. The men of Krieg were loyal, dutiful and extremely disciplined. They would fight with an almost inhuman disregard for the cost in casualties, seeing death in battle as the ultimate goal of their lives, to sacrifice themselves for the God-Emperor. The 88th Siege Army would be equipped depending on each regiment's designation. Most of the regiments would be siege regiments, equipped for a long war against static positions, with a special emphasis on artillery. Artillery was the heart of the plan for laying siege to Vraks Prime, and it would be a gunner's war. Large concentrations of heavy artillery would be needed to blast the enemy from their defensive lines, allowing infantry attacks to sweep forwards in their wake. Each regiment would have its own artillery companies, with weaponry ranging from small mortars to the medium artillery of heavy mortars and quad-launchers. There would also be heavy artillery in the form of Medusa siege guns and Earthshaker Cannons, the work-horse of the 88th Siege Army, as well as the heaviest Imperial artillery in use, the deadly Bombards. To augment each regiment's own artillery company, independent artillery regiments would be attached to the army. Other regiments would be equipped as mobile armoured regiments, but for a siege campaign the armoured regiments would be used as breakthrough and gap exploitation forces and would not expect to man the lines as the infantry and artillery regiments would. The tanks would be used to support the infantry's attacks and there would be no mass tank battles since the Imperial forces intended to deny the Heretics the chance to engage in armoured warfare. Still, Imperial Guard Leman Russes, Baneblades and Gorgons would all play their part in the siege. For the men of Krieg, Vraks would prove to be an alien environment. All of them had been raised in the underground hive cities of Krieg, where they became used to the constant overcrowding and recycled air. They had trained for battle on their world's blasted surface, amidst the frigid cold and radioactive hot spots of a perpetual nuclear winter and a landscape of ruined buildings and a hideous metallic mass of trench and razor wire all left from the planetary civil war that had devastated the world centuries before. While many of the Death Korps regiments were well-established, they had been brought up to strength with many new recruits who had never seen combat before they set foot on Vraks Prime. Vraks was a barren world, covered in a choking layer of volcanic dust, with little vegetation. Its climate was warmer than that of frigid Krieg, but violent electrical storms were a daily problem, as were the sudden downpours that accompanied them. These storms turned the ground into a churning sea of sticky grey mud as the water drained away into Vraks Prime's dusty surface. The battlefield encompassed the whole of the planet's Van Meersland Wastes, 5,000 square kilometres of dusty, rocky plains with the occasional outcropping of volcanic rock. The defenders knew this terrain well, but the forces of the Emperor would have to learn the nature of the battlefield as the siege progressed. The first troops of the 88th Siege Army arrived in the Vraks System in 812.M41. The 143rd Siege Regiment was the first to make landfall, and began digging in. These troops were reinforced throughout the campaign and several Space Marine Chapters interceeded on the Imperium's behalf throughout the war. The command for the first volley of fire was issued in 813.M41. The siege had been intended, after voluminous calculations by the Adeptus Administratum, to last for 12 standard years, but, owing to the unexpected intervention of several warbands of Chaos Space Marines and daemonic entities from the Warp, it dragged on for 17 Terran years until 830.M41, when the Imperium successfully reclaimed control of the strategic world at the heavy cost of 14 million lives. 88th Siege Army Order of Battle 1st Line Korps *'3rd Krieg Siege Regiment' *'5th Krieg Siege Regiment' *'15th Krieg Siege Regiment' *'19th Krieg Siege Regiment' 12th Line Korps *'143rd Krieg Siege Regiment' *'149th Krieg Siege Regiment' *'150th Krieg Siege Regiment' *'159th Krieg Siege Regiment' 30th Line Korps *'261st Krieg Siege Regiment' *'262nd Krieg Siege Regiment' *'263rd Krieg Siege Regiment' *'289th Krieg Siege Regiment' 34th Line Korps *'291st Krieg Siege Regiment' *'308th Krieg Siege Regiment' *'309th Krieg Siege Regiment' *'310th Krieg Siege Regiment' 8th Assault Korps *'7th Krieg Tank Regiment' *'11th Krieg Tank Regiment' *'14th Krieg Tank Regiment' *'179th Krieg Tank Regiment' *'231st Siege Artillery Regiment' 11th Assault Korps *'61st Krieg Tank Regiment' *'66th Krieg Tank Regiment' *'101st Krieg Siege Regiment' *'497th Siege Artillery Regiment' 19th Bombardment Korps *'3rd Siege Artillery Regiment' *'4th Siege Artillery Regiment' *'8th Siege Artillery Regiment' 21st Bombardment Korps *'19th Siege Artillery Regiment' *'22nd Siege Artillery Regiment' *'23rd Siege Artillery Regiment' Unattached Artillery Companies *'4th Artillery Company' *'6th Artillery Company' *'8th Artillery Company' *'27th Artillery Company' *'31st Artillery Company' *'33rd Artillery Company' *'224th Artillery Company' *'226th Artillery Company' *'227th Artillery Company' *'230th Artillery Company' *'61st Heavy Mortar Company' *'67th Heavy Mortar Company' *'70th Heavy Mortar Company' *'71st Heavy Mortar Company' Sources *''Imperial Armour Volume Five - The Siege of Vraks - Part One'', pp. 12-13 *''Imperial Armour Volume Six - The Siege of Vraks - Part Two'' *''Imperial Armour Volume Seven - The Siege of Vraks - Part Three'' es:88º Ejército de Asedio Category:S Category:Imperial Guard Category:Imperial Campaigns